Chapter 55: Joric's Plan
"We understand. How the tithe is to be paid, Boss, just provide the schedule." Maine nodded. Saving Sasha was the priority; all else could wait. He looked at his crew. Though the future was an unknown, their resolve to save their comrade was firm.
"Good." Joric did not elaborate, gesturing for Maine's crew to leave. He needed to concentrate on Sasha's initial stabilization. "You may return to your duties. Maintain communication. I will notify you when the next resource tithe is required."
Maine gave Sasha one last look, then nodded to his crew. They turned silently and left the manufactorum. The heavy metal door sealed behind them, separating the sanctum from the outside world. The crew's vehicle was filled with an oppressive silence, each member processing the complex, fate-altering pact they had just made.
Watching them leave, Joric turned, his dark crimson robes sweeping the floor as he moved to the main console. His mechadendrites began interfacing with the terminal, calling up Sasha's detailed scan data to continue adjusting her long-term restoration protocol.
Simultaneously, he allocated a separate processing thread to interface with the Dimensional Sextant's monitoring array.
Within his internal vision, hidden from the crew, a vast river of data flowed like a nebula. Joric's logic-engine was running at high capacity, not only calculating the optimal path for Sasha's physical reconstruction but also simulating a new, far more cautious grand-strategy.
His original plan had been simple: once he confirmed the Sextant could establish a stable link and he had cracked the coordinate-targeting, he would personally return to the Warhammer universe.
He still had assets there: his laboratories, his stockpiled technical resources, and even a small, loyal detachment of Skitarii tech-guard. Those forces were crucial for his long-term survival and development in this new, alien world. Technology, wargear, and loyal machine-constructs from a Forge World would exponentially increase his power and security.
However, a personal return carried immense, incalculable risk.
The Warhammer universe was lethally dangerous. A single, random spatial anomaly, an unstable materialization, or—Emperor forbid—his re-entry being detected by one of that universe's... entities... could have catastrophic consequences. He could not wager his entire existence on a single, high-risk personal action.
Now, with the oath of fealty from Maine's crew, a new, more efficient option had presented itself.
"Perhaps... I do not need to risk my own chassis," the thought formed in his data-stream.
He recalled the legends from his home universe, whispers of certain Archmagi, like the ever-mysterious Belisarius Cawl. It was said they could create "cogitator" systems imprinted with their own memories and thought-patterns, even create independent, autonomous clones or "proxies."
While his own knowledge was far from Cawl's godlike level, the foundational principles were sound.
A bold protocol began to form in his mind.
He could construct a high-level "cogitator" core. He would imbue it with the efficient, purified, and sanctified logic-code he had reverse-engineered from the Rogue AI, granting it a high degree of autonomous judgment and learning capability.
Then, he would synchronize this core with his own key memories, his technical knowledge, his understanding of the 40k universe's protocols, and a pre-set series of mission-directives.
This "proxy," while lacking his full emotional spectrum and intuition, would be sufficient to simulate his decision-making processes, especially when interfacing with Mechanicus sub-units and utilizing his authority-codes.
And then... he would have this newly upgraded, fully augmented 'Edgerunners' crew escort this "proxy" back to the Warhammer universe.
Maine's crew—their loyalty now assured, their combat experience proven, and their future capabilities enhanced by his custom augmentations—would be a suitable, if expendable, "Skitarii" exploratory team.
They wouldn't need to fight the horrors of that galaxy. They would only need to protect the "proxy" until it reached the pre-set coordinates—his old, hidden laboratory—and assist it in recovering resources, downloading his data-archives, and activating his waiting servitors and tech-guard. Their street-level cunning and adaptability might even be surprisingly effective in the chaotic environments of the 41st Millennium.
If the mission failed, if the "proxy" was destroyed or the team lost, he would only have lost an exploratory feeler and a material investment. His core self, his true sanctum, and his technological foundation would remain safe and intact.
This adhered to the holy principle of risk-diversification.
"A worthy protocol," Joric silently confirmed the plan's feasibility.
This perfectly explained his need for the crew's absolute fealty and total re-augmentation. They would become his senses, his mechadendrites reaching into the multiverse. They were an extension of his will, and a critical buffer to mitigate his own personal risk. The investment in them was, in essence, an investment in his own security and long-term ambition.
Of course, this plan was, for now, merely a blueprint.
The creation of the "proxy" cogitator and the deep re-augmentation of Maine's crew would require vast amounts of time and resources. The initial team-tuning and Sasha's restoration were just the foundation. The proxy's development required a far more stable power source and a deeper, more complete analysis of the Rogue AI's code—which brought him back to his most immediate, critical need: the full-scale excavation and re-consecration of the subterranean base.
He pulled his focus back from the grand strategy, re-allocating his primary processing thread to Sasha's life-support systems and the dimensional transporter's real-time data monitoring.
The manufactorum hummed. Beneath the cold, metal faceplate, a grand plan connecting two universes had been seeded.
Maine and his 'Edgerunners,' completely unaware of their new destiny, had just stepped into the very center of a trans-dimensional vortex, all to save one of their own. Their loyalty, their strength, and their very forms would now be reshaped to serve their creator's ambitions—ambitions that extended far, far beyond this single world.
Joric began to administer the next phase of nano-repair agents into Sasha's bio-gel. Simultaneously, another part of his consciousness began drafting the foundational framework for the 'proxy' cogitator and the preliminary augmentation paths for Maine's crew.
The Great Work had only just begun.